Giving a contrast between the Congress and the BJP, MP Rahul Gandhi asserted that his party believes that the distribution of resources should be done properly, and growth should be broad and inclusive. In a free-flowing discussion with students of IIT Madras on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP was too aggressive in “tripling down” growth.
“They believe in what is economically called ‘triple-down’. Socially, we feel that if society is united, the less people fight, the better off the country is,” he said.
“On the side of international relations, there may be disagreements about how we deal with other countries, but it will be the same,” the Congress leader added.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha insisted that governments should spend more money on ensuring quality education, which he said could not be achieved through the establishment of private companies and financial incentives.
Asked how higher education should be improved, Rahul Gandhi said that the country should ensure quality education for its people.
“I don’t think the best way to ensure quality education for our people is to privatize everything. In fact, if you bring some kind of financial incentive into the game, you’re not actually providing quality education,” he told IIT. Students from Madras.
“I have said many times that the best institutions in our country are government institutions, and yours is one of them. I oppose the large amount of money that governments spend on education,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi said he had “big problems” with the country’s education system, which he said was “very narrow, restrictive and high-handed”.
“You may not agree with me. I think it’s a very restrictive and superficial system. It’s too small. I don’t think our education system allows our children’s imagination to flourish,” he said.
He greatly applauded the creation of children, saying that it can only come when they start producing, their skills are respected, and money is invested in it.
“One of the things I want to push is to move more into the physical manufacturing space. For me, real innovation comes from that space. Put as much money as you want into research and development, if you don’t actually produce something, it. will just be a budget,” he said.
Recalling his 2022-23 Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said he spoke to thousands of children about their aspirations and they told him they wanted to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer or army soldier.
“It cannot be that there are only five things that must be done in this country. But that is what our system is pushing,” he said, noting that the country’s education measures success only if a person becomes an engineer or a doctor, or joins. IAS/IPS or join the armed forces, “which is just one or two percent of our population and 90 percent of our population will never do this”.
The Congress leader said that the education system should allow children to do what they want and allow them to gain knowledge, and do many things.
“Our education system ignores a lot of things, it underestimates a lot of fields and it takes these four or five fields seriously. So those are the kinds of things I would like to change,” he said.
(with input from PTI)